W.G. To Announce For Kent Levy Court At-Large
Jul 9th, 2010 by Timothy Pancoast
Enough is ENOUGH!
W.G Edmanson will officially announce his campaign for the Kent County Levy Court At-Large Seat:
-Monday July 19th 6-7:30pm
-Camden Wyoming Fire Hall
-Light refreshments and kid friendly
Here are W.G.’s positions:Reducing Excessive Government and Creating Jobs
W.G. will work with State & Local Governments to streamline processes and cut red tape to develop and grow small business.
Reverse Big Government
As a fiscal conservative, W.G. will fight against tax increases. Kent Countians are already taxed TOO much.
You Have A Voice On Levy Court
W.G. will always listen and work with constituents on issues important to YOU.
W.G. Voted for First Responders & the Farming Community
W.G. respects Kent County’s proud history and will work hard for our citizens’ safety & emergency preparedness.
Kent County Needs to Live Within Its Means
Enough is ENOUGH!
W.G. is:
-Lifetime Delawarean
-Former 5th Dist. Levy Court Commissioner
-Enlisted Navy veteran
-Delaware State University Class of 1994
-Life member of VFW Post 3238
-Member Del Vets Post #2
-Member of Wyoming United Methodist Church
This release is from friends of W.G. Edmanson. Find him on FaceBook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-WG-Edmanson/
As a fiscal conservative, W.G. will fight against tax increases. Kent Countians are already taxed TOO much.
W.G. will always listen and work with constituents on issues important to YOU.
W.G. respects Kent County’s proud history and will work hard for our citizens’ safety & emergency preparedness.
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He was a fine commissioner who got swept out in the Obama Wave, I would love to see him back.
This race is over before it started…Terry Pepper will clean WG’s clock in this countywide race. Even with the GOP advantages in 2010. WG won a special election only because of the full force of the GOP. Every power broker from Claymont to Delmar worked to get the special election victory. When left all alone to defend the seat during a “real election cycle” he failed. His lack of ability to raise the needed funds and his inability to understand the issues left him unprepared to run and protect what was provided him by the GOP. Most recently his remarks about one of the biggest economic development projects in Kent County by referring to the complex as “recreation” not “economic development” shows that he lacks the vision needed to grow out economy and create jobs while protecting the businesses that already exist. I wish him well, I just don’t think he’s the man for the job. Just electing republicans because they are republicans is never a good idea. Now, more than ever, we must examine the individual and pick our next elective leaders based on the quality of the individual not the party affiliation they carry. In my opinion, WG should not be in this race, he should be waiting to take out Jody Sweeney who has proved that his head is too big for the job. (but that’s another post all together).
Of course that is my opinion.
Jody Sweeney, the only Democrat I know of who got fired from a State Job for Political Activity.
Fired by a democratic administration to boot!
So Mike since you saw the Edmundson races first hand and you say that the GOP heavyweights got Edmundson elected, do you care to name names?
You have been dismissive of WG Edmanson. So how did he get elected in the first place. Who do you think actually got the job done????
The “pros” were in on this one. Targeting voters was the name of the game. Got to observe three of the best and boy was it educational. Former State Ex. Director Garrett Wozniak and Kate Forsten along with Kent County Chairman and former Elections Commissioner John Davis. They targeted the number needed to win and that’s what they got. It’s the power of a Special Election when a party can put all the resources into one race, brains, money and time and effort. There were others including state elected officials, former candidates and party officials. They got him elected and when it was his turn again, the local organization with all the other races out there, he had to rely on what appears the same people this time. Got his butt handed to him, and to hear him tell it, “it was the Obama factor,”…I disagree, we reelected a Republican State Senator and a Republican State Representative in the same areas.
Mike Hunt (great name by the way, I wonder if anyone knows how cute you think you are), the 5th District was won through hard work. I walked neighborhoods, attended homeowner meetings, and THAT is what residents wanted…someone who would connect with them. As far as my big head is concerned, that is a joke. I am proud to be a Levy Court Commissioner. We are making a difference for this county. I have supported and continue to work very hard to bring jobs to Kent County (Regional Sports Complex, Family Medical Respiratory, Boy Scouts Delmarva Council), and have worked hard against the wrong type of development (Hot Mix Plant in Farmington, developments outside the growth zone). I am in favor of smaller government and voted in favor of holding the County government at 10% reduction in employees, in favor of reduced government benefits for *NEW* employees, and voted IN FAVOR of a budget that was more than 20% less than the one approved when Mr. Edmanson was a Commissioner, and all of this at a time when the State dumped $1.4million in new unfunded mandates on Kent County. I have worked hard and was instrumental in the purchase of the Kesselring Farm for a new park, the Dog Park expansion at Tidbury Park, and the new effort to start reparations at the Goggin Manor at Brecknock Park. Add to that the new Library in Woodside, which $2million less than what was slated for the Dover Library and would have STILL required us to look for a new location, I think this Levy Court has done a fantastic job.
As far as the “political activity” is concerned, you are totally clueless about what really happened, so flagrant statements are unwarranted. If you are so close to events in the 5th District and have your thumb on the electorate, call me to discuss what really happened. And I was not fired by a Democratic Administration, I was terminated by a vindictive Director at DelDOT.
Jody, the vindictive Director works and answers to the current and past Democratic Administration. I might know more than you think but whatever…
Levy Court is not as good as you think they are…you voted for a budget that raised the taxes of all the residents of the county 24%…
Sit tight Mr. Commissioner….we gonna git you next time!
You are wrong on both comments. I am ready to answer to both charges in any forum that you want, whether it is here, or during a campaign debate. I am anxious to see if the $.06 increase in property taxes is a real issue during this campaign.
So, tell me what you know about my termination. Tell me about how the Director got their job. Tell me how the Cabinet Secretary kept hers. Tell me about the relationship between me and the Director.
As far as the taxes are concerned, tell me how much the State pushed to the counties in Dog Control costs and Paramedic costs. Tell me how much revenue was generated by $.06 increase in the property tax rate. Tell me how almost EVERYONE mistakes their total property tax bill for the County Tax, when the County Tax is really only a small portion of the bill, and the lion’s share is School Tax, which we do not control, YOU DO!
24% is 24%.
You calling the News Journal a liar!
Looking forward to the debate. Looking forward to your explanation on spending more than you have. Did you or did you not dip into the $24M surplus last year to balance your budget cuz the 24% was not enough. Tax and Spend Democratic legacy is what you and your pals will be remembered for.
The News Journal? What does the News Journal have to do with this? And since when should anybody put their faith in what is reported by a newspaper? OMG, get a clue.
Levy Court does NOT have a $24M surplus. The entire 2010 County Operational Budget is only $22M and the entire 2010 Capital budget was only $195K. The 2010 budget was cut from $28M to $22M by reduction of expenses, offering a retirement incentive then NOT filling the positions, adding an employee contribution to their pensions, putting timers on the lights and turning up the thermometer in the summer and down in the winter. The total increase in property tax revenue was $1.4M which barely covered $1.2M that the State pushed on the County ($800K in Dog Control and $400K in Paramedic Funding). We looked at moving money from the Economic Development Fund to cover all of the mandates, but that would have left nothing as an incentive for any economic development projects, such as the Kesselring Farm or the Regional Sports Complex. I have stated in letters to the Editor of the State News and Dover Post, I have stated out loud in Levy Court meetings, and I have posted on countless blogs, that THERE IS NO SURPLUS IN LEVY COURT’S BUDGET. Every penny in our bank accounts is accounted for as revenue collected but not yet spent as part of the operational budget, collected for dispersal to schools, fire companies, or grants, or capital projects still underway. So the News Journal is reporting incorrectly something that was overheard from a misinformed person. I heard the same rumor from Mr. Speed and Mr. Edmanson and I wish I knew where they were getting their information. Misinformed statements to the public will not make for good commissioners.
upon passage of the budget for last year, the taxes were raised 24%. Period. Fact. Oh that’s right, you are a Democrat and you don’t let the facts get in the way.
Oh, yeah, and your comment about the County’s “surplus” is based on fact. You are just taking cheap shots and you know it. You seem to have all the answers for how the County should have handled our budget, fess up! What would you have done? Having cut $6M from the budget, and been forced to cover $1.2M more, where would you have gotten the revenue to cover paramedics, dog control, inspections, planning, code enforcement, building permits, the 911 Center, parks and library services?
Wow, I read the Delaware State News Article on Sweeney and I couldn’t actually believe that a Democrat in a Democrat run administraton would actually get fired for political activity. I called some friends up in Kent, both Democrats and Republicans, who informed me that Sweeney is a whiny, self entitled, cry baby who never accepts responsibility for his own screw ups and was caught red handed politiking on State Time.
Now that I have read the exchanges above, I totally get it. This lame brain blames his boss for his firing. (Not an easy thing to do in the State System. ) Of course, Sweeney is too lame to name the individuals involved nor why his lame brain butt should not have been fired.
So Sweeney screws up, gets fired, and then blames everyone else. He sounds llke a typical Liberal Democrat to me.
You may think I am lame, and yet, here I am, elected to Levy Court with a pretty good margin. And in two years, I will be debating it again, I’m sure, that is the only debatable issue on my record. I have received a lot of support from family, friends, neighbors, and other residents in the District, in both parties. I have never claimed that I did not do what I was accused of, just that the punishment did not fit the crime. As far as my job at DelDOT was concerned, I was a bit whiny. That termination was a death sentence to someone who is 50 years old in the Information Technology field and I complained to everyone who would listen. But that chapter is closed and we are moving on. This thread was about Mr. Edmanson and his fourth attempt to get into Levy Court. For the 2 years he was there, he tried to change existing employees benefits, he voted in favor of 3,300 new lots, he voted against the balanced budget, did not do his homework, and rarely went to any meeting other than the once-per-week Levy Court meeting. During the campaign in 2008, he was shadowed by the current 34th Chair, who was abusive, degrading, and an embarrassment to Mr. Edmanson and cost him votes. I hope he has learned his lesson about that guy. In fact, a “RealVoters” website actually lists him as a Democrat: http://www.voterfactory.com/CamdenWyoming_DE_Ronald–Brown_John–Christopher_4665.html
Isn’t THAT interesting?
OK Winey…you admit that you were conducting County Levy Court business while working a state job at DelDOT.
You admit that the penalty for doing “political work” on state time could be termination. You got the penalty prescribed for such action. Now you think that the penalty was too harsh cuz your are 50 years old.
BOO HOO. Welcome to politics. (It’s a shame, I agree, but both sides have drawn the lines and it’s gonna take a new generation of leaders to change the culture.)
Now let me correct something I said in an earlier post. I refered to a $24M surplus…I should have used the word “reserve fund”. That was the balance of the reserves when the Republicans were voted out of County control. That $24M was set aside for bad times. That $24 grew to about $26 with interest, etc. and since 2006 about $2M has been used for various things.
($300K +/-) to add to the 24% tax increase in 2009 to balance the budget.
That $24M grew under the financial leadership of , Dave Burris, Jack Peterman, Ron Smith and Don Blakey. They built up a reserve while building the new county HQ, improving the quality of the sewer & treatment facility, providing the needed services to operate the county to the benefit of it’s citizens, and did it without raising taxes. They controled spending. They mandated that those county offices, that could, become self sufficient by charging fees to the consumer using the office…Operating the government as they operate their business. The problem with you Mr. Sweeney…you live on the “teet” of the government. A state job, elected office,…get the picture or do you care to discuss the BS resume you have.
Now let’s get back to the issue of this post. WG! How someone who is so clueless can lose an election in a district that is still conservative/republican to a self proclaimed winey, rule breaking, self absorbed, fat head such as yourself, Commissioner. I am so looking forward to the 2012 election, when you will be on the same ticket as the liberal leaders who are trying to “redistribute” the wealth and provide for everyone. You cannot take from the wealthy and give it to the poor without ruining our economic freedoms.
Every dollar you spend comes from “We, the People” and you and your other elected officials JUST DON’T GET IT! And that, my friend, is what, “We, the People” are counting on.
First of all, the “reserve” fund you refer to does not exist. Someone has led you down a path, which does not seem too difficult. There are two funds, the General Fund and the Enterprise Fund (sewer). Any reserve in the Enterprise Sewer Fund, by law, can only be spent on sewer infrastructure, not on County Operating or Capital projects. So ask your informants about that. While the commissioners you refer to were growing the County budget from $21million in 2003 to $26million in 2007, growing government by spending transient revenue, they approved more than 20,000 lots for housing, while making public statements like “traffic is DelDOT’s problem”, and “school capacity is DOE’s problem”. And mandating that County Offices have fees to run their offices, how is that any different than a tax, which means that they are only taxing specific groups of people. What idiocy! THAT is why they are gone and won’t be back any time too soon. THERE IS NO RESERVE FUND, SAFETY NET, RAINY DAY FUND, SURPLUS, or WHATEVER you want to call it.
My resume speaks for itself. Jealousy is an ugly trait Mr. Hunt.
And what makes you think the 5th District is so conservative? 41% Dem, 35% Rep, 24% Unaf. Do your homework! This is becoming a pattern with you and your ilk. Speaking about that which you know so little.
As far as my termination, I was not accused of doing Levy Court business during DelDOT time. The MERB was the group that said it was too harsh, not me. So, again, please do your homework. It is really tiresome to continually have to correct you. I will leave you to wonder what I really did. Want me to point you to a REAL forum to help you out?
I am looking forward to 2012 myself. I love campaigning. If it is Mr. Edmanson, so be it. In the meantime, I will continue to represent the residents of my District, voting they way that THEY want me to vote. So fathead and all, I am working hard for the people in this district because I was elected to do so.
And really, using a cute little name like Mike Hunt, I originally thought you were, like, 12! Grow up. Try something a little more mature, like “Anita Pee”, or “Seymour Butts”.
When you want to speak in a more mature manner, please give me a call. I appreciate the opportunity to debate the issues that the County faces.
” I have never claimed that I did not do what I was accused of, just that the punishment did not fit the crime. As far as my job at DelDOT was concerned, I was a bit whiny. That termination was a death sentence to someone who is 50 years old in the Information Technology field and I complained to everyone who would listen.”
I know there are different thought processes between myself and Liberal Democrats but this bit of thinking perplexes me to no end.
In my view any activity related to politics that is engaged in while working for the state is cause for termination of employment. Personally, I think working on partisan political activities while employed by the state is the worst offense one can be engaged in. State employees are supposed to be neutral in delivery of services to state citizens. The naked disregard of this sacred trust casts doubt an all honest state employees who faithfully carry out their duties without partisan political consideration. Firing is the least penalty I see for the violation of this trust. I really don’t think someone’s age or Job marketability should have any bearing on this whatsoever. In fact one would hope that by the time one reaches their 50′s that they would have the maturity and sound judgement to not make the kind of dumb, foolish decisions that would expose them to firing.
Mr. Sweeney’s defense of his whiny, cry baby attitude (boy were my sources ever right on this) demonstrate an ability to rationalize any kind of corrupt behavior and displays a sense of self entitlement that is palpable.
Since Mr. Sweeney is in a policy making decision would he be willing to keep an employee who was engaged in political activity on Kent County time??
He states his offense did not warrant firing (especially since he is in the IT field and in his 50′s) Would the same offense not get one terminated from Kent County employement?
There is no reserve because your Democrat colleagues spent it. The term reserve fund may have been a misstatement by the commenter, but sir, you are likely well aware that there were significant carryovers left in reserve in general and special funds. These have been drained over the last 3 years. Let’s not play games with terms.
Thank you for honoring us with your presence. Please visit regularly. I will be happy to have you.
David, Sounds like I am being dismissed. Not a bad idea since the comments clearly are mistaken. There has been and is no reserve in the Levy Court budgets. The budgets are available on the County website for anyone with a 5th grade education to understand. Not sure how much clearer I can make this. For example, I know that there is a $3m budget line item for the new gymnasium. That is money collected from the Realty Transfer Tax and is not reserve funds. Can it be used to balance the budget? By LAW, no it cannot. Can it be used to fund other needed general capital projects? Yes, but we killed all of the capital projects in the 2011 budget. Can it be used in sewer capital projects, such as land purchase to spray irrigate or Right-of-Way purchases? By LAW, no it cannot. No BS, No bending the rules, No being vague, just as clear as can be, THERE IS NO RESERVE, AND IF THERE EVER WAS, IT WAS GONE BEFORE MR. BURRIS and MR. SMITH LEFT LEVY COURT.
For my final post, then please delete my userid from your system:
I was accused in Oct ’08, of posting to the Delaware State News NEWSZAP forum, that I was running for office. One post, at 10:20AM, during the business day. Stupid? yes. Terminable offense? no. Do it again? Absolutely not!
The law that was used to terminate was put in place in 1967 to keep republican employees from forcing their employees to work on republican campaigns to keep their jobs in State government. It was enacted prior to the Merit Laws which now protect employees. It kept republican managers from forcing employees to stuff envelopes, buy and sell fundraiser tickets, put up signs, or to campaign to other State employees to keep their bosses in office so they could keep a job. The commenters here are either too young (Mike Hunt, really?) or from another state (Tennessee Walker, Texas Walker hick, really?) to know that when the State Administration changed, many people lost their jobs because they belonged to the other party. So the law was a good thing to protect employees from the hostile environment create by republican managers.
In my case, whiny that I am, I stood up against this Director when she and the then Cabinet Secretary did not want to report a child pornographer to the State Police. When DelDOT fired 25 people for misuse of email (emailing wedding pictures, for example), I testified in the House Employee Relations Committee against this Director, resulting in a charge of Contempt of Committee that was sent to the Attorney General’s Office but not acted on. I reported a misuse of State Funds to a legislator that I know got back to the DelDOT Administration. For this, the Director looked for and found ONE posting on Newszap that she used to terminate me in retaliation.
So please, delete my userid, the immaturity and close-mindedness of some of the posters on this site is unfortunate. I don’t go away mad, I just go away.
“The law that was used to terminate was put in place in 1967 to keep republican employees from forcing their employees to work on republican campaigns to keep their jobs in State government.”
Your knowledge of History is every bit as weak as your essential grasp of the facts. The Governor of the State of Delaware in 1967 was a Democrat Charles Terry (Governor Terry was also a prior Supreme Court Justice) . Delaware State Government was in Democrat hands in 1967 as there was no Merit system until Republicans took over in 1969. Mr Terry was an admirable man and to suggest that he had Republican Employees actively engaged in campaign work is an insult to a very decent guy (Again Terry was a Democrat His nephew is a former state Rep.)
Commissioner Sweeney it seems you are the one who is totally ignorant of History.
Since your total ignorance of history and facts gets in the way of anything you say, Why should anyone believe your blatherings now???
As for my out of state credentials, since I am not as big a bad ass as Chuck Norris, I refuse the Texas Walker Moniker.
This story has been ~~linked to at http://www.thedelawarepatriot.com~~
Soon to be former Commissioner Sweeney…
The Dr.s office called and the results are in:
You have been diagnosed with a rare form of:
Crania Rectum: Get your head our of your ass!
Yeah, Walker, sorry ’bout that. Guess my attempt at your type of humor and making comments was not as clever as yours and Seymour’s. The point is the same. THe law was put in place to keep the employees of the State from being extorted into keeping their jobs by working for one party or another. Mr. Hunt, the pediatrician called, time for you to grow up. Does your mom and dad know that you are a closet liberal?
You ignorant m*&^5^f*&(e%, my mother, may she rest in peace, has nothing to do with this, just as your mom doesn’t. And my father is proud of my activism..better to be involved than to sit on the side and bitch.
Stick to the topic…your ignorance of the subject matter. I asked another blogger if you were that stupid, and he said you must be or you are just good at hiding your intelligence.
The topic here is WG. It turned into your lack of knowledge of how the county budget is worked at the county. And you do have lots of unfunded mandates from the state cuz Levy Court has little influence in Leg. Hall and even less presence. Instead of bitching about unfunded mandates from your DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATURE perhaps you should be working to stop them.
Leadership is not reacting to what is going on, Leadership is being proactive on the issues you represent.
Commissioner Buckson has provided solid initiatives to curb the spending at the County, but the Democrats are just trying to protect the democrats employed by the county.
Two thirds of your budget is salary and benefits. If a small business, in this economy, has to eliminate 10 positions, what does that do to their bottom line…you should try it.
“Yeah, Walker, sorry ’bout that. Guess my attempt at your type of humor and making comments was not as clever as yours and Seymour’s. The point is the same. THe law was put in place to keep the employees of the State from being extorted into keeping their jobs by working for one party or another.”
Mr. Sweeney
I have not tried to be funny. I did repeat some negative characterizations that came to me months ago. As I stated in comment 16, your approach to this whole post confirmed what I had been told by folks from your community.
As for your attempt to dodge th fact that you were caught by me trying to peddle a falsehood.
You said: ““The law that was used to terminate was put in place in 1967 to keep republican employees from forcing their employees to work on republican campaigns to keep their jobs in State government.”
I presented the historic record on this smear and the total inaccuracy of your attempt to unfairly and inaccurately blame Republicans for an abuse of power that did not exist. This incident proves that you are either a liar or you just can’t get your facts straight. I am not making an attempt at humor.
Mike Hunt and I disagree about as much as we agree here. You seem to equate him and myself. I am not crazy about his moniker. I am happy that he doesn’t call himself Anon.
At any rate, I asked a serious questions in comment 20 that appear be lost in the name calling and mother insulting going on here. They were:
“Since Mr. Sweeney is in a policy making decision would he be willing to keep an employee who was engaged in political activity on Kent County time??
He states his offense did not warrant firing (especially since he is in the IT field and in his 50’s) Would the same offense not get one terminated from Kent County employement?”
The answer to your question walker is no, an employee engaged in political activity on county time would not be fired. There is no policy on the books to terminate. Look at what happened in New Castle County, there was no termination and the employee involved was simply moved to another department. However, in Kent County, they would be progressively counseled, verbally, then written, then disciplined, more than likely for non-work related activity, political or not. And the termination, while on the books as such, was abhorrent to the Merit Employee Review Board. The MERB does not have the authority to ignore the law, or they would have.
I did not mean to associate you with Anon (I am done using his ignorant name). It simply seems that the fanatical commenters seem to resort to foul language and false statements when directly confronted.
I am not wrong about the budget. Look it up. Simple enough, just use your fingers and key it in on your Little Tykes keyboard.
As it is with nearly EVERY public and private organization in America, payroll and pension are the highest portion of any budget. Saying it is so with Kent County does not make Kent County any different than any of those other organizations. Again, Anon, DO YOUR FREAKIN’ HOMEWORK! DANG! The four bills to modify the County benefits for *NEW* employees have been brought up two times during my time in office. The 1st time, I seconded each of them and voted in favor of them. The 2nd time, I voted in favor of the health care amendment and the vesting amendment. PLEASE get a clue!
As far as the legislature is concerned, we have been successful in quite a bit, such as keeping the State from taking over review of every zoning change, eliminating the Receiver of Taxes, and from taking over the Recorder of Deeds and the Register of Wills. HOMEWORK, boy, HOMEWORK! The dog control and paramedic changes were enacted at 2am on July 1 when no one was in the audience. That has resulted in County Commissioners and Councilpeople to attend the late night sessions at the end of the General Assembly. Stop with the anecdotal messages that mean little other than a view from your tiny world.
My name is Michael Hunt. I can’t help it. Guess I should change it to Michael Sweeney or Michael Walker to keep you two happy.
D’oh.
Mr. Hunt. Please accept my apologies. I am a big fan of the Bob and Tom radio show and one of the skits they do is with a character Mike Hunt. Again, my apologies for the comments about your name.